MARKETING IN DESIGN

ASSIGNMENT 1 MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

DYLAN CHNG RONG JIH 1202143B

DYLAN CHNG RONG JIH 1202143B DIPLOMA IN APPAREL DESIGN & MERCHANDISING YEAR 1 SEMESTER 2 BLOCK 1 MARKETING IN DESIGN DPS 1021 ASSIGNMENT 1 MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

CONTENTS:

I. INTRODUCTION

II. COMPANY PROFILE

III. MARKETING THEORIES

IV. SWOT ANALYSIS OF COMPANY

V. SWOT OF CLOSEST COMPETITOR

VI. BRIEF CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS

VII. CONCLUSION

VIII. REFERENCE LIST

I. INTRODUCTION Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (A&F) is a United States company incorporated in 1996 that caters to a wide array of consumers. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. specialises in a range of luxury casual and sportswear products, alongside various personal care products and accessories. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. sells its products through the following subsidiaries: Abercrombie & Fitch, the main label; abercrombie kids, which targets children between the ages of 7 and 14; Hollister, designed to attract youths aged 14 to 18; and Gilly Hicks, which targets a female market exclusively. Through its main concept and its offshoot brands, the company (as of 28th January 2012) operates 946 in the United States alone and 99 outside. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has been the subject of many a controversy regarding their image, the manner in which they advertise their products, their hiring practices, and even some of their products as well. Nonetheless they remain relatively successful in the mainstream market, and continue to pursue a precarious expansion into regions outside of the United States.

II. COMPANY PROFILE HISTORY & DEVELOPMENT: Originally founded in 1892 in the city of Manhattan, founder and co-founder David T. Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch had established their business as an upscale, luxury sporting goods store that catered to elite outdoorsmen.

David T. Abercrombie (left); Ezra H. Fitch (right) Abercrombie & Fitch Co. continued its expansion into the 20th century, until a dispute over the future of the company between its founders resulted in the departure of Abercrombie from company management. Consequently Abercrombie & Fitch Co. entered what is known as the Fitch Years, where the companys continued, protable success saw numerous milestones in history. When Fitch retired from the company in 1928, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. experienced a succession of leaders until its nancial collapse and closing in 1977. In 1988 the company was bought over and revived by Limited Brands. Michael Jefferies was now in charge, and it was he who revolutionized Abercrombie & Fitch Co.s image into one of an upscale youth fashion retailer, marketing towards varsities. This marked the beginning of the current incarnation of the modern Abercrombie & Fitch branding. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. continues its multi-billion dollar existence worldwide today.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION Abercrombie & Fitch Co. presents an unabashed take on Southern California and upperclass American beach culture in both their products and marketing. Maintaining an aspect of sportiness while creating an air of rich exclusivity around them, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is the envy of many an international youth. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. revels in its image as a brand dripping with the offered suggestions of sexuality and sex appeal, and survives inasmuch as suffers due to being rife with controversy. Each subsidiary Abercrombie & Fitch Co. brand utilises either a mono- or achromatic colour scheme that exudes minimalism in tandem with their simplistic logo designs, creating an air of sophistication of professionalism. Although each subsidiary brand has a different target market (mostly dened by marginally varying age groups), all carry products that have a largely similar aesthetic and style: what is dened as casual or athletic wear. a. Abercrombie & Fitch: (founded June 1892)

Abercrombie & Fitch is the original body of Abercrombie & Fitch Co that markets casual and sports wear for consumers aged 18 to 22. Keeping the idea of luxury clothing constant throughout the company history, although now with a more casual aesthetic in contrast to its original concept aimed at outdoorsmen, Abercrombie & Fitchs pricing remains considerably high. Nonetheless, in spite of competitors brandishing more affordable, similar-looking alternatives, Abercrombie & Fitch remains an extremely popular brand, especially among its target market of collegiate, varsity and ivy league youths. Abercrombie & Fitch continues to expand internationally today.

b. abercrombie kids (launched July 1998)

abercrombie kids targets a narrow market of consumers aged 7 to 14. It is designed as the childs version of the parent brand, marketed by Abercrombie & Fitch Co. as Classic Cool. Product design (casual wear cut in childrens sizes) draws its inspiration from Abercrombie & Fitch. c. Hollister (launched July 2000)

Hollister is an American lifestyle brand and an offshoot from the main Abercrombie & Fitch Co. whose concept was designed to cater to consumers aged 14 to 18, selling their product at a lower price than its parent brand. Hollister is vastly popular among United States teens. Its success among its target market echoes that of its parent brand. d. Gilly Hicks (launched January 2008)

Diverging from the other three Southern California inspired brands under Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Gilly Hicks opts for a Down Under theme to its designs, drawing inspiration from Australian culture. It specialises in womens knickers from casual to sexy, relaxed PJs and beauty, naturally targeting an exclusively female consumer base.

Gilly Hicks has been acclaimed as Jeffries most innovative, successful idea for the Abercrombie & Fitch Co. brand portfolios, and is set to compete with lingerie giant Victorias Secret among others. PRODUCTS AND SERVICES All drawing inspiration from a similar source (Southern Californian chic; upscale casual; beach-ready apparel), each of the brands under Abercrombie & Fitch Co. carries products unied as an extensive collection of signature Abercrombie & Fitch looks. a. Abercrombie & Fitch Products are labelled luxury casual by the company. Abercrombie & Fitchs product designs are what have been come to be known as evergreen: apparel designs that are safe in terms of aesthetic and will never go out of trend due to there being a constant market for them (unlike transient trends and fads). Alongside apparel, Abercrombie & Fitch also sells swimwear, accessories, sleepwear, underwear, body care products, and colognes. The business colognes have, like its look, become a hallmark of Abercrombie & Fitch ambience, especially their Fierce cologne. b. abercrombie kids abercrombie kids products designs and aesthetics are similar, if not identical, to its parent companys with the exception of pricing and sizes. Like its parent company, it also sells accessories, sleepwear, underwear, body care products and fragrances, nor does abercrombie kids appear to greatly vary its product design seasonally with the exception of a few concessions to trend. c. Hollister With Hollister currently adopting a more retro, while still woodsy, aesthetic for both male and female consumer products (whom they refer to as dudes and bettys) it is likely that Hollister, having to consider their on average more trend-conscious target market, does

indeed deign to follow fashion trends perhaps more closely. With a whole range of plaid shirts, knitted sweaters and vintage prints, washes and designs, it is also equally likely that the current obsession with a fashion retrospective nicely ts into Abercrombie & Fitch Co.s uninching aesthetic. d. Gilly Hicks Gilly Hicks specialises in underwear and lingerie, from colourfully printed basic undergarments, to lace lingerie, to push-up bras, Gilly Hicks is poised to work the Abercrombie brand into the womens underwear market. Summary: In terms of product design across Abercrombie & Fitch Co. there is not very much in the way of variation and innovation, and save for Gilly Hicks, it is not totally incorrect to assert that each subsidiary brand is identical to the next with the exception of perhaps size. Regardless of shortcomings, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. remains a giant in the niche of casual/sportswear, more often than not out-selling even their lower-priced competitors simply by virtue of an immensely solid reputation and popularity internationally, and all with hardly any effortladen campaigning. It should also be noted that there is a possibility of correlation between Abercrombie & Fitchs steadfastness in product design and the almost patterned periodic uctuation of their stock value. For example, in the early 2000s, a trend for sportswear for the streets was propagated, and soon in the mid-2000s, Abercrombie & Fitchs market value saw a signicant increment from a high of 39.12 in 2004 to a high of 84.23 in 2007. This dramatic rise in value could very well be explained by the phenomenon of trend distillation, where by 3 years would probably have been the time the trend took to reach the outlying periphery of fashion consumers.

MARKETS The average Abercrombie & Fitch can be an extremely specic character: a (usually alpha male) youth between the age of 18 and 22, predisposed to American beach culture and wear, and with enough spending power to purchase their merchandise. Official target market notwithstanding, Abercrombie & Fitch is also able to sell its wares to the following markets that may or may not be part of their intended customer range: 1) customers above or below target age group, 2) non-heterosexual male customers or 3) female customers purchasing for their male partners or associates (to a lesser degree) among others. Such rationalisation for the above cited examples are: 1) the age group 18 to 22 is largely considered to be the period of a persons prime, therefore a customer under 18 may aspire to live within that prime while a customer over 18 may aspire to return to that prime; 2) Abercrombie & Fitch can be observed to use implicitly homoerotic imagery in their advertisements and media releases that can create a situation or object of fantasy for the non-heterosexual male customer to aspire to; 3) the usage of superiorly masculine themes in advertisements and media releases likewise creates a situation or object of fantasy for female customers to aspire to for their own partners. Geographically, Abercrombie & Fitch is most prevalent in the United States with over 300 store locations, and is likewise as prominent a brand name overseas in Asia and Europe, creating a grand total of 1055 store location worldwide. Typically, Abercrombie & Fitch stores are located in richer locales, accounting for their higher prices and reputation for catering to a more affluent customer base. For example, in Singapore, the Abercrombie & Fitch store is located at Knightsbridge (270 Orchard Road), right in the middle of the rich Orchard shopping district, opposite the likes of Paragon Shopping Centre and Mandarin Gallery, both prominent for the prevalence of upmarket brands.

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III. MARKETING THEORIES 2 (OF 7) Ps OF MARKETING: Note: Although Abercrombie & Fitch Co. consists of a total of 4 subsidiaries, the focus will be on Abercrombie & Fitch, the companys main brand, for this particular section of the report. 1. PLACE Abercrombie & Fitch stores are set up in such a way that they create an ambience not dissimilar to that of a night club within the connes of the store. Lighting is low and soft, and loud, fast-tempo music is played constantly throughout the day. Keeping in line with the companys reputation and philosophies, besides creating an environment of swanky upper-class youth culture (ie. a nightclub furnished with lushness), the store is rife with salespeople, who by no coincidence, are extremely good looking.

Interior of the Abercrombie stores

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Some stores display clothing within glass cases, as if to tag a signicant value to them. Some stores also contain numerous mirrors arranged to create an air of vanity while also creating an illusion of enlarged space. This principle carries on to some of the stores architecture and layouts that can span over two storeys. It is not impossible to suggest that the utilisation of a multi-storey store heavily compounds the richness implicit in their merchandise and image.

Exterior of the Singapore store

For many of the stores, the outside is a minimalist, nearly monochromatic faade. Blocking out almost all natural light, and hiding the stores interior goings-on like a precious secret, this intriguing manner of store exterior brings the next point to bear. Speculating on the ambience created within most stores, in conjunction with the mysterious store exterior

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allows the postulation that Abercrombie & Fitch indeed intends to create a fantasy world of exclusivity and privilege within their stores. By cordoning off the outside from the inside and plunging the customer into a whole new plane, one of implicit ecstasy and exclusiveness, the stores create a community within the locale where a sense of belonging is established. It is such that the store makes the customer feel as if they are special to have been included in such an elite fraternity. Also integral to the A&F store is the ever-present scent of Fierce oating in the air. Engaging a third sense, the cologne is marketed and sold through this medium. 2. PEOPLE The stores salespeople are highly prolic and no less a part of the environment of the store than the product itself, the salespeople put the nal touches of Abercrombie & Fitchs image to the store. In this sense, they are as much part of the product as they are sales representatives.

Models for the opening of the Singapore store The typical model look is one of a blond haired, blue eyed, Caucasian demeanour, a combination of a dilute amount of this desired Aryan look, the appearance of a traditional Californian surfer, and the Hollywood ideal; Abercrombie & Fitch is after all a business, not a regime, and the idealised Hollywood alpha male is an easy fantasy to sell.

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It must be noted that Caucasian men make up a vast majority of the model pool, with token minorities and women making up diversity gures. Inadvertently discriminatory, the statistic of fewer women more likely than not is a consequence of ingeniously including the nonheterosexual male market. To explain the lack of ethnic male models: simply the widest racial market is the Caucasian market. It may also be noted that Abercrombie & Fitch does not utilise celebrity endorsement. This can be explained as an elimination of having any unnecessary association to previous appearances and individual back-story so as to present a black slate for which the customers to project themselves on to; Abercrombie & Fitch sells the idea that sex appeal comes with their clothing and brand association. In order to maintain the Abercrombie image, many employer actions have resulted in scandals and lawsuits regarding discrimination against religion, race and physical disability of employees. Such instances include many an employee forbidden to wear hijabs on-duty, and even the unlawful dismissal of Riam Dean in 2009 over prosthetic limbs not being in coincidence with the Abercrombie image. An exceedingly intriguing gure in Abercrombie & Fitch is CEO Michael Jeffries. Himself non-heterosexual, it is possible to attribute the idea to utilise homoerotic imagery and appeal to the gay market to him. Jeffries by all accounts appears to be a man possessed by the ideals of his company. His biggest obsession, though, is realizing his singular vision of idealized all-American youth. He wants desperately to look like his target customer (the casually awless college kid), and in that pursuit he has aggressively transformed himself from a classically handsome man into a cartoonish physical specimen: dyed hair, perfectly white teeth, golden tan, bulging biceps, wrinkle-free face, and big, Angelina Jolie lips, wroteBenoit Denizet-Lewisin Salon in 2006.

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CEO Mike Jeffries UNIQUE/EMOTIONAL SELLING PROPOSITION (USP/ESP) The Abercrombie & Fitch USP is an intriguing element because it refers to brand association and brand experience. The Abercrombie & Fitch package contains the following elements: 1) Sensuality and implicit sex, 2) Coolness, 3) Elite/exclusive atmosphere, 4) Luxury comfort/ casual, 5) American surf culture, 6) Youth culture, 7) Multi-sensorial approach, 8) Model sales personnel It is a combination of all of these individual elements into a single experience that is Abercrombie & Fitch, and even then, it is no less innovative than their policy of unchanging apparel designs. Hence, we theorise a seemingly multi-faceted ESP approach to earning customer loyalty and emotional investment. Firstly, very straightforwardly Abercrombie & Fitch sells customers the idea of (re)connecting with their prime age (18 to 22), utilising a retrospective distortion of the past for older customers, and a misrepresentation of the future for younger customers. Secondly, Abercrombie & Fitch approaches the idea of selling customers a fantasy involving male models who are the pinnacle of masculinity via a two-pronged offensive: 1) the ideal

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male companion is proffered to the heterosexual female and non-heterosexual male market therefore by creating a fantasy situation which prompts this group of consumers to purchase; 2) the image of appearing as a masculine male via associating to A&F imagery to appeal to non-heterosexual men who either a) idolise such an image for themselves to possess or b) feel a need to compensate for their non-heterosexuality by appearing so (perhaps resultant of discrimination, desire to conform to societal standards etc.).

Screen grab from the video Other Sports Require One Ball. Wrestling Requires Two. by Bruce Weber

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VI. BRIEF CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS Abercrombie & Fitch is a peculiarity among its contemporaries: it does not, nor does it need to, heavily market itself and its products. Its marketing campaigns are thusly limited to the following few elements: 1) the A&F Quarterly, a catalogue released seasonally; 2) minimum new media marketing including the use of a number of websites reecting Abercrombie & Fitchs image and once capitalising on internet sensationalism (eg. 2011, Abercrombie & Fitch released a with half-dressed male models lip-synching to Carly Rae Jepsens single Call Me Maybe with 15,918,700 views as of 31st October 2012); 3) some social media marketing on Facebook and Twitter with 7,182,537 likes and 328,968 followers respectively; 4) a series of homoerotic videos produced by Bruce Weber featuring Abercrombie & Fitch poster boys wrestling Abercrombie & Fitch is a company with little in the way of heavy advertising campaigns or integrated media campaigns, and as such this report will focus instead on its thematic campaigns, specically, its ongoing corporate social responsibility campaign. CAMPAIGN: A&F CARES Officially A&F Cares is a three-pronged approach to humanitarian and social awareness efforts by Abercrombie & Fitch Co.. The program operates with diversity, philanthropy and sustainability. Diversity is an effort to include United States ethnic minorities in the working community of the company. This would include the hiring practices regarding in-store employees and other personnel throughout the corporate structure. Philanthropy is an effort to give back to the community by committing to charity work and donation, so as to be exemplary corporate citizens. Sustainability has two parts: 1) social, where the company takes an interest in international human and labour rights and 2) environmental, where the company endeavours to reduce their environmental footprint and simultaneously educate their staff.

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Besides their website, there is little else promotional material for A&F Cares. It is hard not to be skeptical of the sincerity of Abercrombie & Fitch Co.s attempts at humanitarian and environmental care. The website itself is designed less like a serious corporate social responsibility tool than another store catalogue, with models of little to no relevance embellishing the pages. Furthermore, even in their attempt to promote themselves as diverse employers (perhaps to try to whitewash their history of discriminatory hiring practices) they make remarks that may come off as inadvertently offensive, for example using such phrases as people of colour among others. Equally offensive is their use of two Asian models on a page where the website discusses helping the needy and underprivileged. It is not unlikely that this effort for humanitarian and environmental work is less of a genuine, sincere effort than a marketing ploy, but such can be said of many other companies.

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Screenshot of the Company Demographics chart on the A&F cares website

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VI. CONCLUSION By all accounts Abercrombie & Fitch is an exceedingly fascinating example of marketing done right, and perfectly embodies the phrase no publicity is bad publicity. Inasmuch as they appear to be failing at being basically ethical in terms of human and social issues, at least they are attempting to change their image, though it may be too little too late. Regardless of their philosophy and how disagreeable it may be to various groups, it is impossible not to marvel at their unrelenting brand power, in spite of their persistent refusal to adapt their aesthetic and product design, and insistence on sticking with a tried and tested (and tired) method of marketing and branding via sex, sexuality and sex appeal. As much as their controversies paint them as perhaps despicable, and as much as their value uctuates with accord to their stubbornness, there is no doubt that Abercrombie & Fitch Co. will remain an industry giant in the foreseeable future. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is an enigma in the industry because while all their contemporaries around them conform and change according to trends and fads, they remain, perhaps, admirably, steadfast in their philosophy and design, and while that may seem like a selfdestructive strategy in an industry driven by change, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. remains a signicant contender, and perhaps could be both a lesson and a warning for any fresh, venturing company.

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VIII. REFERENCE LIST CONTEXTUAL REFERENCES: http://www.reuters.com/nance/stocks/companyProle?symbol=ANF http://www.reuters.com/nance/stocks/overview?symbol=ANF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollister_Co. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilly_Hicks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abercrombie_%26_Fitch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Abercrombie_%26_Fitch http://abercrombie.com/ http://www.hollisterco.com http://abercrombiekids.com/ http://abovethelaw.com/2012/06/male-model-claims-he-was-instructed-to-masturbatenude-for-photoshoot-sues-for-a-million/ http://articles.latimes.com/1998/aug/13/news/ls-12539 http://www.ibtimes.com/going-gay-can-abercrombie-tchs-gay-kiss-ad-revampbrand-214380 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/abercrombie-tch-teens-sexappeal_n_1847596.html http://www.ae.com/web/corpResp/index.jsp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Eagle_Outtters http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1138821/viral-video-chart-abercrombie-tchhottest-guys-lip-sync-carlie-rae-jepson-become-shared-viral-advert/

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http://www.facebook.com/abercrombie https://twitter.com/Abercrombie http://www.anfcares.org/ IMAGES: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Abercrombie_ %26_Fitch_logo.svg/281px-Abercrombie_%26_Fitch_logo.svg.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Hollister_Co._Logo.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a9/Abercrombie_kids_logo.png/ 250px-Abercrombie_kids_logo.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/GHlogo.png/250pxGHlogo.png http://www.herworldplus.com/sites/default/les/articles/love-men-sex/ABFNY.jpg http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/5jJ.U8qZA6FQZktnvX7aBg--/ YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MTQ7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/ os/249/2011/12/15/1AFopening_131035.jpg http://www.timeoutsingapore.com/contentFiles/image/2011/12-december/shopping/29shopping-af-singapore-482x298.jpg http://designyoutrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/278.jpg http://retaildesignblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Abercrombie-Fitch-agshipLondon.jpg http://www.dispatch.com/content/graphics/2010/04/14/abercrombie-aircraft-artg6786e2g-1michael-jeffries.jpg

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http://karlismyunkle.les.wordpress.com/2012/03/abercrombie-tch-other-sportsrequire-one-ball-directed-by-bruce-weber-3.png http://rohitnair.les.wordpress.com/2011/08/af-founders.png

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